Gang of bank hackers busted, 7 arrested

The district police claim to have busted an inter-state gang of hackers after the arrest of seven of its members, on Sunday. The gang is suspected to have embezzled over Rs 55 crore.

Assistant inspector general of police (counter-intelligence) Tajinder Singh Maur said: "Five accused belong to belong Amritsar and the other two are from Ranchi in Jharkhand. We had received inputs on their activities and had put them under surveillance. The seven were arrested at the Dhilwan toll plaza with the help of the local police, while travelling in their Ford Endeavour (PB-02-BN-9259)."

"The accused are being interrogated and investigations are on to know their modus operandi. What is clear is that all the accused are IT experts and some were related to bank employees. We have seized software tools for Punjab National Bank and United Bank from their possession. Preliminary investigations seem to suggest that they have targeted Chowk Mehta branch of Punjab and Sindh Bank and Mandi Ahmedgarh Branch of HDFC Bank," he added.

Two laptops, tools used in hacking and several forged documents from the accused.

"The accused have admitted that they used to hack dormant bank accounts using passwords obtained from their accomplices in other banks, as normally the money in these accounts goes unclaimed. We will examine their laptops to know more about the gang," Maur added.